


Nothing Left to Lose

by Aaronlisa



Category: The Secret Circle (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7643911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronlisa/pseuds/Aaronlisa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cassie decides to run away but Jake doesn't think that she should.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Left to Lose

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Smallfandomfest for the prompts of Jake/Cassie and it's not always black & white.

No one will talk to her. The unbinding of their circle has shattered whatever bonds that she thought she had with the others. Adam is too busy working, Melissa ignores her calls, Diana has left town on holiday, Faye is far too busy enjoying having full reign of her power and Jake avoids her. It's gotten so bad that Cassie thinks that maybe just packing up and leaving Chance Harbor is the thing to do. The insurance company has finally paid her out for the fire that killed her mother and destroyed their house. It's not much but it's enough to see her put enough distance between her and magic and to start somewhere else. 

She wants to believe that the others just need time but as every day passes she knows that it's more than that. There's a part of her that wants to blame herself for everything but in the end it's not really her fault. Or at least her fault entirely. Each one of them had played a part in the way things went down. She knows from past experiences that it's easier to blame the newcomer than the people that you grew up with. 

Finally, she makes the decision to leave. She doesn't make a big fuss about it. There's no one to fuss over it. She doesn't even bother to tell work, she just locks up after her shift before driving to her boss's house and leaving the keys along with her letter of resignation in the mailbox. The next morning, she wakes up at four in the morning and starts to pack up her car. Her original intention had been to travel as light as possible until she had concluded that she doesn't ever want to come back. So it takes her a few trips back and forth to pack up her car. 

"So that's it, you're running away?" 

She turns around to confront Jake. If he had looked smug maybe she would have said something different. Maybe she would have called him out for having run away once upon a time himself. However, Jake's face is curiously devoid of any emotion. Cassie sighs and runs a hand through her hair. 

"I'm not running away," Cassie tiredly says. "I'm leaving town," 

"Without telling anyone, which makes it running away." 

"And who should I tell?" Cassie angrily asks. "No one seems to return any of my calls or wants to talk to me. So why would anyone actually care if I left?" 

"Look Cassie, the last couple of months have been crazy for everyone." 

"I lost my mother _and_ grandmother," Cassie tells him. "I have no one to keep me here. Except for my circle - former circle - and they don't seem invested in staying friendly. So don't tell me that the last couple of months have been crazy. I've served my purpose and now I am back to being the outsider," 

"It's not that simple," Jake protests. 

"I don't care," Cassie tells him. 

"Faye and Adam have been going off the rails, it's been keeping Melissa and myself rather busy." 

Cassie laughs. It's a bitter sound without any real mirth. 

"Yeah so busy that you've been sleeping with Faye," Cassie replies. "Did you forget that my bedroom looks right into your bedroom?" 

"And not everything is what it seems." 

Cassie shrugs her shoulders. "I don't really care who you sleep with Jake. I don't want to live here. There's nothing here for me -no family or friends." 

"Diana will come home again," Jake tells her. 

"And what?" Cassie asks. "She made it very clear what she thinks of me, the Balcoin blood and I'm pretty sure that she's not going to come back and want to play at being sisters with me." 

"There's so much that you don't understand," Jake tells her as he steps closer to her. 

"You know what Jake?" Cassie flatly asks him. "I don't really care anymore." 

For a moment, she thinks that she's going to start crying but she manages to keep it together. Enough so that she can turn away from him and lock the front door. Doesn't Jake understand that she's tried? That Chance Harbor keeps taking things away from her and she's tired of giving everything that she has away. 

"Look Faye sleeps over at my house but it's platonic, it's not sexual." 

"I don't really care, Jake." 

"Her magic is making her sick," Jake tells her. "We need to form the circle or bind her magic until Diana's back home." 

Cassie turns to him again. "Diana will never bind herself in another circle with us again. So find Faye a new circle of witches or bind her magic." 

"Melissa's been speaking to Diana," Jake says. "She knows what's at stake and she's willing to come home to bind our circle again." 

"No," Cassie replies to the unspoken question. 

"Cassie, we need you," Jake pleads. 

"Find another way," Cassie flatly tells him. "When I needed any of you, none of you were there for me." 

"Then you are running away," Jake replies to her. His voice is flat and dull. 

"I'm leaving town, running away would imply that I have people here who might actually care about me." 

"Conant thinks that Blackwell's other kids have arrived. If they're here, they'll pick us off one by one and they won't stop until they have you and Diana in their grasp. Your father's dead but his dream is still very much alive." 

She hates the words that come out of her mother next because they're cruel and Jake flinches at them. Maybe she is a bad person, a product of her bloodline. 

"What's in it for me?" 

Five simple words but each one feels like a heavy stone that she's throwing at him. She can't help it though. Ever since she's arrived in Chance Harbor it feels like she's been manipulated by someone - one after another - and there's no one here who has really cared for her. Other than her grandmother that is. 

"What do you want?" Jake coldly asks. 

"What if I said _you_?" Cassie asks before she can stop herself. 

What she really wants, she doubts that she can actually have. If she stays, she will be sacrificing more of herself, including her dreams, desires and happiness, for everyone else. Again. 

He doesn't answer her with words. Instead he closes the distance between them and wraps his hands around her waist. Her magic flares up as he tugs her closer. His mouth claims her mouth in a rough kiss. There's a part of her that recognizes how much Jake actually wants this but she places her hands on the flat of his chest and pushes him away. They're both slightly breathless from the kiss. Deep down, she doesn't want him to kiss her because she ordered him to do it. It's not who she is no matter what her father may have claimed. 

"Does that answer your question?" Jake asks. His voice is hard and cruel. 

"Yeah," Cassie tells him. 

She wants to say that it doesn't matter. That she wants her family back - her mother and grandmother - or that she wants to be carefree like it was when she first arrived in town. 

"So you'll stay then?" 

"How willing you are to play the martyr," Cassie says. "You must really love Faye." 

Jake groans. "It's not that black and white, Cassie." 

It doesn't matter. Faye's claim to Jake is something that occurred a long time ago. She decides that she'll agree to bind their circle but she'll tell him that she's still leaving. The others can stay or leave but before she can tell him this, he's pulling her closer and kissing her again. This time, his kisses are soft, gentle and tender. She can feel his magic responding to her magic. It's unlike anything that she's ever felt before. 

"I want you to stay but if you're dead set about leaving then I'm going with you," Jake tells her. 

"What about the others?" Cassie asks. 

"I've never been the self-sacrificing kind of guy." 

It's tempting to just take his hand and leave but she can't condemn Faye like that. Even if the other girl would probably do the same if the situation was reversed. She wonders if Jake is manipulating her or not. 

"I'll agree to binding the circle but I think we should all leave town," Cassie tells him. 

"Conant and Melissa might taking some convincing," Jake says. 

"If the Balcoin kids are here, it's not safe." 

It's not safe for them bound or not. And she wants to leave now. Some instinct is telling her to run. And she's ignored her instincts for too long and she's paid far too high of a price for doing so. 

"Diana's two or three days away," Jake finally says. "Maybe we should leave now then." 

"What about the others?" 

"Melissa will agree to leave town if she thinks we're just leaving to bind the circle to help Faye get better. We just won't mention how we don't intend to come back." 

"And Adam?" 

"Faye can convince him," Jake tells her. 

There's a story there but now is not the time to hear it. Instead she just nods at him. They need to leave now. She knows this, she can feel it deep in her bones. Jake's hands tighten around her waist. Things may or may not work out in the end for them but she feels connected again and not as alone and adrift as she did when she first woke up. 

"Go get them and I'll meet you at the abandoned house in twenty minutes." 

Jake nods at her but before letting her go, he kisses her again. A quick kiss that makes her feel that maybe he does see her as something more than a means to an end. She wants to grab his hand and never let go but he lets her go before she can say anything. 

"We'll be there in ten," Jake tells her, 

She watches him go before she walks to her car. She realizes that nothing has been black and white or that simple for a very long time. 

 

((END))


End file.
